Fascinating footage of fluorescent corals under confocal microscope will leave you mesmerized

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Chances are you are spending your Easter Sunday morning contemplating why it is still snowing outside, and how you are going to find all those eggs in a half a foot of snow. What’s a better way to escape the cold than to emerge yourself into the world of microscopic coral fluorescence? This fascinating, mesmerizing, psychedelic fluorescent coral footage is sure to draw you in far far away from what ever cold place you might be. So while you are brewing that cup of coffee to face the day be sure to let the video buffer in 1080p.

http://youtu.be/oluJW

The footage was captured by coral biologists at the University of Hawaii Manoa, using a laser scanning confocal microscope. The researches have been using the microscope to closely study the biology of corals in question and microscopic fauna living on the coral’s tissue. The ongoing study is part of a growing interest in coral fluoresce among the scientific community. If you remember coral Fluorescence recently was found to be a strong indicator of coral health, and coral fluorescence can even be used to determine when coral larvae are ready to settle.

The video was created as part of the Science and Technology Visualization Challenge organized by the National Science foundation in collaboration with the journal Science. The video did not win the competition, but was justly awarded an Honorable mention.